Brazil Sugar Waiting to Be Loaded Rises 19% on Malaysia

(Bloomberg) – The amount of sugar waiting to be loaded at ports in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, climbed by 19 percent over the past week, with Malaysia and Algeria buying, according to Williams Servicos Maritimos Ltda.

Vessels at Brazil’s main ports were waiting to load 1.015 million metric tons of sugar as of yesterday, data from the shipping agency show. That compares with 855,755 tons a week earlier. Malaysia and Algeria were the biggest destinations, followed by ports in the Black Sea region, the data show.

Ships bound to Malaysia will carry 108,000 tons, while Algeria’s scheduled shipments totaled 103,350 tons, according to Williams Brasil. Vessels were also set to sail with 93,100 tons to ports in the Black Sea region, 78,250 tons to Egypt and 59,905 tons to Morocco, the data show.

“There is talk of demand popping up again,” Michael McDougall, a senior director and head of the Brazil desk at Newedge Group in New York, said in a report e-mailed today.“Malaysia is the name being mentioned a lot recently,” he said, adding that Morocco and other buyers were also said to be purchasing.

Brazil is attracting sugar demand from Asia because of high premiums to obtain the sweetener in Thailand, the world’s second-biggest exporter, according to Newedge. The South American country’s sugar cane crop will recover to 509 million tons this season, up from 493.3 million tons last year, industry group Unica estimates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at Ialmeida3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at Ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.